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PaperclipPerfector  15d ago (text post)   27110 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 30, 2025

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I think it's pretty clear they reduce overdoses and the waste of paramedic/hospital resources.

It's also incredibly clear that alone they do nothing to actually fix anything. They're a Band-Aid for symptom management as we treat the underlying issue. Problem is, we don't bother to treat any of the underlying issues.

I think it's pretty clear they reduce overdoses...

They may reduce overdoses, but I think that's far from clear.

As a (sort of) counterexample, "...B.C. has implemented every harm-reduction program that has been proposed, from safe-injection sites to safe supply and effectively making all drugs legal. As each new measure has been introduced, drug overdose deaths have increased, except for a brief drop in 2019."

The toy model is that they would otherwise stop (often from from death), but instead they continue for longer before stopping (slightly less often from death), and the time they spend doing drugs is higher and therefore the social cost is higher as well.

I agree. SIS reduce overdoses, but don't make anyone stop doing drugs. And people who implement SIS also refuse to make people stop doing drugs.

We should have SIS, voluntary rehab, and institutions for those who can't stop themselves

So we don’t actually know that they reduce overdoses either. There is a plausible mechanism for them to do so, but there are also a few mechanisms in which they could not.

  1. It is possible that fatal overdoses are reduced, which would allow the individual in question to overdose in the future again.
  2. It is possible that SIS increases the number of people who get addicted to drugs (in BC in particular, there is an ongoing controversy where safe supply drugs are sold to get funds for fentanyl, which leads to more people having drugs than would otherwise; although I realize this is not quite the same thing as SIS, the SIS are responsible for the distribution of the safe supply, so I think the consequences apply here too).

I would also caution in believing that the three items in your list can exist simultaneously - although there is no physical reason that they cannot, there are political reasons they will not, and that is much harder to change.

It is possible that fatal overdoses are reduced, which would allow the individual in question to overdose in the future again.

This strikes me as profoundly true.

It is possible that SIS increases the number of people who get addicted to drugs

I can see this being true, but can also see it not being true. Unsure.

I would also caution in believing that the three items in your list can exist simultaneously - although there is no physical reason that they cannot, there are political reasons they will not, and that is much harder to change.

They almost certainly will not exist. Voters hate paying for things. I hope we get institutionalization though, I am seeing the tides of public opinion shift on these as everyone gets sick of addicts ruining downtowns/parks/transit.

The "underlying issues" are that your same 100 people want to keep taking drugs to the exclusion of everything else.

Yes and we should institutionalize them forever

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